1937: Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell | Reading the Pulitzer Prize Winners for Fiction Reading the Pulitzer Prize Winners for Fiction In Which I Decide to Read all the Pulitzer Prize Winning Books in the Categories of Novel (1917-1947) and Fiction (1948-Present) Menu james Book Reviews , Pulitzer Prize Winners Gone With the Wind , Margaret Mitchell , Pulitzer Prize , Rhett Butler , Scarlett O’Hara Plot Summary: Widely considered The Great American Novel, and often remembered for its epic film version, Gone With the Wind explores the depth of human passions with an intensity as bold as its setting in the red hills of Georgia. A superb piece of storytelling, it vividly depicts the drama of the Civil War and Reconstruction. This is the tale of Scarlett O’Hara, the spoiled, manipulative daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, who arrives at young womanhood just in time to see the Civil War forever change her way of life. A sweeping story of tangled passion and courage, in the pages of Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell brings to life the unforgettable characters that have captured readers for over seventy years.

My Thoughts: I’ll just start right off the bat by saying that I don’t like Scarlett O’Hara. Not really at all. I get that she’s a strong, independent, progressive woman who was pushing the boundaries of the societal norms within the time period of the novel, but she’s also just a terrible person. And though I enjoyed the book, and the history behind it, I had a hard time really getting into it because of my vehement dislike of the protagonist. She is insensitive and uncaring, and has the emotional maturity of a child long after she should have grown out of it. And she doesn’t ever grow past it. But I’ll come back to that. I managed to make it my whole life without reading Gone with the Wind or seeing the movie. Pretty much the only thing I knew about the story was that it was set during the Civil War and that at the end of the movie, Rhett Butler says, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn,” although I would have been rather hard-pressed to tell you what exactly it was he didn’t give a damn about.

So I approached the novel with a bit of skepticism (because there’s no reason to take immense popularity at face value), and a bit of interest, not only in the story, but in the time period and the subject matter. Having read Striblings, The Forge and The Store last year, I was set to encounter a book that hit upon racial and societal tensions during and after the Civil War and everything that might entail. And to be fair, Gone With the Wind did have all those things, but that wasn’t what the novel was at its heart. It’s a story about gender and gender roles in a time period in which many things were in flux and chaos, and so those gender roles begin to morph and change, as well. And I found that aspect of the novel fascinating. And Scarlett O’Hara makes decisions and acts in ways that are completely revolutionary for her time, and there’s something admirable about that, and about her, but I had such a hard time with her motivations behind those actions. I can certainly understand the motivations behind her desire for money and work in the aftermath of the Civil War, especially in light of the destitution and near loss of her family land both during the war, and during the Reconstruction that followed.

I can understand the hard veneer that is created in that sort of crucible. But I had the hardest time understanding her interactions with Rhett Butler and even her claims of love. By the end of the novel, I could see how life and marriage and children and loss had shaped and molded Rhett and turned him into a more conscious, sympathetic, caring, and approachable person, but I could not say the same for Scarlett. She remains completely oblivious to the feeling and emotions and experiences of the people around her, and instead measures all of her interactions with others on how they affect her personally. Even by the end of the novel, when she decides that she actually “loves” Rhett (long after it’s been painfully obvious to the reader that he has loved her and been hurt by her far too many times), she describes her desire to regain Rhett’s love in terms of a challenge, as something to be gained for her own personal benefit, and even admits that “There had never been a man she couldn’t get.” It has nothing to do with relationship and communion and partnership, and everything to do with her being slighted and wanting to gain the upper hand once again.

And I can freely acknowledge that these are gender tropes and stereotypes that are often presented from the perspective of the opposite gender, that it is often the man, selfishly seeking conquest over the woman, and working to “win her” or “woo her” regardless of who she is as a person and what private and individual motivations she might have. But that doesn’t mean I like those male characters who exhibit those over the top stereotypes. And while it means I have a greater appreciation for the exploration of gender roles within the novel, it doesn’t mean I like Scarlett O’Hara. She may be an excellent example of gender role reversal, but she’s also just a terrible human being. That being said, Gone With the Wind is a cultural phenomenon. It’s something that exists beyond and outside itself, and something that has a lot of fascinating things to say about personal desire, life during war and hardship.

gender roles in a situation (the loss of the Civil War by the Confederacy) that is both metaphorically and literally emasculating, and the varied social interactions in the midst of slavery and an unsustainable way of life, that is nonetheless an ingrained way of life, being stripped away, leaving people scrambling to discover who they are and how to interact in a vastly different world. It’s a book that holds a lot of themes (and maintains and number of pages to support the large variety of themes and ideas) and a book that is inevitably a part of American culture, especially in the South. Regardless of any flaws or unsympathetic characters, it’s something that must be experienced, and hopefully appreciated for what it is: a complicated, difficult look at the wide variety of human endurance and response, for better or worse, to a startling variety of hardships and joys. Favorite passage: “Make up your mind to this. If you are different, you are isolated, not only from people of your own age but from those of your parents’ generation and from your children’s generation too. They’ll never understand you and they’ll be shocked no matter what you do.

But your grandparents would probably be proud of you and say: ‘There’s a chip off the old block,’ and your grandchildren will sigh enviously and say: ‘What an old rip grandma must have been!’ and they’ll try to be like you.” Why you should read it: It’s a daunting book (my copy is over 700 pages), but it’s a classic, and gives a fascinating look at the South during the Civil War and Reconstruction. There’s a love story too, if you’re into that sort of thing. If you absolutely can’t be convinced to read the book, at least watch the movie, since the story remains a part of American culture to this day. Currently reading: The Late George Apley by John P.

Marquand Share this: Gone With the Wind Pulitzer Prize Fiction 1937 | ipsofactodotme Gone With the Wind Pulitzer Prize Fiction 1937 31 Aug Author: Margaret Mitchell (1900 – 1949) Title: Gone With the Wind Published: 1936 Timeline: 12 years ( 1861 – 1873) Table of contents: 1037 pages (Kindle book) Genre: historical fiction Movement: realism – attempts to describe the Old South realistically Theme: war destroys in an hour what took a lifetime to build Theme: adapt vs defeated – rich vs poor – Old South vs New South Title: Line in the poem “Cynara” Ernest Dowson. “I have forgot thee. Cynara! gone with the wind, / Flung roses, roses, riotous with the throng.” Trivia: This book was honored with the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937.

Trivia: Film Gone With the Wind won 10 Oscars Trivia: Hattie McDaniel, who plays the larger than life figure of Mammy, was the first black actor to win an Oscar, that for best supporting actress Introduction: 1861 February 4: Georgia and 5 other states form Confederate States of America February 18: Jefferson Davis president of Confederate States of America March 4: Lincoln inaugurated April 12: Southern forces fire on Fort Sumter. Civil War Begins April 16: BBQ at Twelve Oaks plantation Structure: Part 1: description of the Old South plantations, families, people, places. Part 1 connects the reader to the main story by giving them the background information. Gerald and Ellen’s characteristics (Irish/French) are blended into Scarlett’s ‘complex personality’. Strong points: Ellen Rouillard (French manners from Georgia ’s calm coastal shore.) Characterization: Mammy…face like a thundercloud; her dialect “ack lak a lil lady’ I just loved her character and cracker-barrel, homespun wisdom! Characterization of Ellen Rouillbard Scarlett’s mother….

“She (Scarlett) had confused her mother with the Virgin Mary…[…] she represented the utter security that only Heaven or a mother can give.” (pg 60) Setting: North Georgia full of colors and personification. Fields of fresh-cut furrows, sunsets, skies, flowers, trees, fauna. Weak point: endless inner dialogue about Scarlett’s unrequited love for Ashley. Symbol: Georgia pines, wilderness, dark forests On page 8 we read a threat: (foreshadowing…) The pines seeming to wait with an age-old patience to threaten with soft sighs… “Be careful! be careful! We had you once. We can take you back again. “ What does this threat mean? Scarlett sees the wilderness encircling the lands as a destruction of all she has worked for, Tara. “In another year, there will be little pines all over these fields, she thought and looking toward the encircling forests, she shuddered.” (pg 495) Out of a wilderness her family built a civilization.

” South, the Confederacy, Cotton Kingdom, it’s breaking up right under our feet.” (pg 193) …and now civilization (war) is turning it all back to a wilderness. Characters: Atlanta – Tara – Society – War …..how do they change? Atlanta – seat of aristocracy (1837 Terminus, 1843 Marthaville, 1847 Atlanta) Tara – Old South traditions Society: master and slave roles are firmly in place War: 1861 – Atlanta: “pulsing of the town’s heart pumping materials for war up the arteries of two battle fronts.” (pg 146) Atlanta – Sherman marches on Atlanta and leaves it a smoldering ruin (1864) Tara – Scarlett returns to ravaged Tara, blackened stones, once proud symbol of Old South. Society: women are taking on important roles, while the men are fighting, dying.

War: 1864 – “ bitter-eyed women who looked backwards to dead times, dead men […] But Scarlett was never to look back.” (pg 428) Atlanta – rebuilding Atlanta (1868) new industry Tara – Rhett offers to rebuild Tara Society: – reconstruction (1865-1877) War: 1865 R.E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox (April 8th) Strong point: Ashley: “like a door that had neither lock nor key” (pg 27) He is an example of the voice of Margaret Mitchell. (Part 2, ch 11) This strong sentiment cannot be felt in the movie version ….this is personal and best evoked in letters. Letters: (pg 210-212) reveal the voice of MM about war, the South and it’s future. Ashley fears the Cause was lost the minute the first shot was fired. Ashley fears the old ways of the South are gone forever, win or lose the war. Ashely fears he will never fit into the future. Ashley fears the South had nothing with which to wage war but cotton and arrogance.

Powerful narrative: pg 527 – 535 (part 4, ch 31) Ashely realizes his Old South civilization was….Gone with the Wind. Ashley finally admits he loves Scarlett, yet she realizes… hospitality, honor, loyalty (Melanie/ Beau) meant more to Ashley than she did. ” the bleak realization came over me (Ashley) that my own private shadow show was over. My inner world was gone, invaded by people whose thoughts were not my thoughts, whose actions were as alien as a Hottentot’s.” Strong point: Scarlett: She was rather shallow, self-centered individual. But she finds new depths and strength within herself. Part 2, ch 10: Scarlett mentions 2 x that she is sickened to be defended by someone she dislikes so much (Melly). Part 3, ch 26: Scarlett see Melly standing with Charles’ saber at the top to the stairs ready to kill… “Why she’s just like me! […] Now struggling against hatred for Ashely’s wife, there surged a feeling of admiration.” Scarlett is the most important symbol in the book: renewal.

Her motto resounds as clear today as it did in 1936. Scarlett insists, “After all, tomorrow is another day.” (Part 5, ch 63 pg 1037) Rhett Butler: Best quote: “My dear, I don’t give a damn”. Surprises: Hollywood left out a number of characters in the movie version! Wade Hampton Hamilton and Will Benteen are two characters appearing in Margaret Mitchell’s novel, but notably absent from the 1939 motion! (…or did I just not see them?) Did I miss yet another child …Scarlett and Frank Kennedy’s baby girl named Ella Lorena? Who is Archie, the one-legged ex-murderer? Conclusion: This was a sweeping historical fiction book about The Civil War. Mitchell reveals through her narrative how relationships were reversed as a result 1861-1865. rich and poor – penniless Rhett becomes one of the richest men ( blockade runner) male and female – Scarlett becomes business woman running a saw mill master and slave – Rhett is jailed for killing a freed slave who insulted a white woman.

Story line is driven by one of the best known love triangles: Scarlett (blinded by love) – Rhett (hides his love) – Ashley (torn between two loves) Last thoughts: Gone with the Wind is the greatest movie ever made and my # 1 favorite film. Not only is it a splendid piece of cinema, which won ten Oscars , but also recreated the Old South as a vanished civilization. Point for discussion: GWTW is not commentary on today’s racial relations …but the perceptions Southerners had at that time. (150+ years ago) Strong point: Mammy…face like a thundercloud; her dialect “ack lak a lil lady’ I just loved the character and her cracker-barrel, homespun wisdom! Strong point: swept away by the ‘love triangle’ Strong point: slowly see the changes taking place in the Old South. Strong point: chapter 63..the best final chapter in a novel I have ever read! Riveting! Score: 5 Gone with the Wind - Kindle edition by Margaret Mitchell, MonkeyBone Publications. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

By TJC on July 11, 2014 Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase I read Gone with the Wind largely because I like to read the original works on which popular films are based. The truth is I never particularly liked Gone with the Wind, the movie, and had hoped that the novel was superior. The truth is that although it is better than a good bit of modern fiction, it has all of the movie's flaws and then some. At its best, it provides a glimpse into the struggle caused when a war is lost and a way of life is ended. At the same time, its principal flaw is that among the major characters only Melanie Wilkes seemed likable and even she demonstrated racist tendencies at times. As a result, it was hard to share the sense that that, on balance, the fall of the Confederacy represented as great a loss as Mitchell wanted us to feel. For example, although I sensed that we were supposed to like Rhett Butler for his honesty and understanding of the Confederacy's inability to see that they could not win the Civil War, I found his love for the perpetually selfish Scarlet and his devotion to his daughter somewhat at odds with the rest of his character.

I must admit I never saw much to admire in Scarlett or Ashley Wilkes in either the novel or the film. Perhaps its greatest failure, however, is its portrayal of the slaves as simpletons grateful for the kindness of their masters and the rather positive portrayal of the Klan. In that sense, it seems dated and out of tune. It is an interesting read perhaps as an example of how attitudes change over time. This is sad in many ways because I find much to admire in the contemporary South. Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback... Thank you for your feedback. Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again By Jane Onslow on June 24, 2014 Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase I love Scarlet and Rhett, even though they are extreme characters, and frustrating at times. The storyline is good and the settings are great too. Where the book falls down is in including too much of the politics and history of the era. It gets bogged down in details, which are boring for the modern reader. The tendency to extremism in characterisation means that the plot is not always believable. How could Scarlet be so blind to reality for so long?

How could Rhett not convince her to see reason? In spite of this, it is a great read and you have to keep turning the pages to find out what happens in the end. I'd recommend it to any romantics around the place, and to those of you who want to learn about the Deep South during the American Civil War. Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback... Thank you for your feedback. Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again By Amazon Customer on December 28, 2014 Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase I always love this book and I loved the convenience of having it as an e book. I was travelling in the American South while re reading this for about the 17th time (over about 40 years) and it was wonderful travelling to many of the places named in this book. This will be an enduring, eternal classsic for me Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback... Thank you for your feedback. Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again By T.

Le Roux on September 3, 2013 Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase Never read this book in my youth, or saw the cinematic portrayal. Read it on a whim a few days ago. Couldn't put it down. A classic which must be read. Never too old to enjoy. Beautifully written. Characters well developed and believable. While first published in 1936 to become a Pulitzer prize winner , remains a never too late, compelling read. Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback... Thank you for your feedback. Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again By Mara Redmond on October 24, 2014 Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase I have read Gone With The Wind many times, in my opinion it is one of the truly great novels of all time,not to every ones taste, it has the romance, mixed with historical fact and I would suggest to anyone who likes romance, combined the period of time of the American civil war, and the problem s in the deep south to read and enjoy. Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback... Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again By Khyati Makati on May 15, 2014 Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase with the strongest lead lady history could craft.. Gone with the wind is a story of a woman way ahead of her times! headstrong and practically optimistic, she goes after what her head thought she wanted only to realize it was not what her heart wanted! Inspirational and awe inspiring tryst of a woman against the world trying to tie her down.. Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback... Thank you for your feedback. Sorry, we failed to record your vote.

Please try again Margaret Mitchell | Reading the Pulitzer Prize Winners for Fiction Reading the Pulitzer Prize Winners for Fiction In Which I Decide to Read all the Pulitzer Prize Winning Books in the Categories of Novel (1917-1947) and Fiction (1948-Present) Menu james Book Reviews , Pulitzer Prize Winners Gone With the Wind , Margaret Mitchell , Pulitzer Prize , Rhett Butler , Scarlett O’Hara 1 Comment Plot Summary: Widely considered The Great American Novel, and often remembered for its epic film version, Gone With the Wind explores the depth of human passions with an intensity as bold as its setting in the red hills of Georgia. A superb piece of storytelling, it vividly depicts the drama of the Civil War and Reconstruction. This is the tale of Scarlett O’Hara, the spoiled, manipulative daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, who arrives at young womanhood just in time to see the Civil War forever change her way of life. A sweeping story of tangled passion and courage, in the pages of Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell brings to life the unforgettable characters that have captured readers for over seventy years. My Thoughts: I’ll just start right off the bat by saying that I don’t like Scarlett O’Hara.

Not really at all. I get that she’s a strong, independent, progressive woman who was pushing the boundaries of the societal norms within the time period of the novel, but she’s also just a terrible person. And though I enjoyed the book, and the history behind it, I had a hard time really getting into it because of my vehement dislike of the protagonist. She is insensitive and uncaring, and has the emotional maturity of a child long after she should have grown out of it. And she doesn’t ever grow past it. But I’ll come back to that. Continue reading → james Pulitzer Prize History Gone With the Wind , Margaret Mitchell , Pulitzer Prize , Pulitzer Prize Controversy Leave a comment 1937 marked the last of 8 consecutive years in the longest running unchanged Pulitzer Prize Novel Jury of Jefferson Fletcher, Robert Lovett, and Albert Paine. The jury seemed undecided on which book actually deserved the prize, and listed 6 novels with no distinction of which book or books they found most worthy. The first two novels on the list were Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind and George Santayana’s The Last Puritan. The jury report states: “No comment on the first two novels seems called for.

They have been too fully and widely discussed.” The jury report goes on to state that they recommend the two novels, “not as best sellers but as deservedly best sellers,” however, they also mention some reluctance in giving a money prize or more publicity to two novels that had already been given so much money and publicity on the market. This did not seem to bother the Advisory Board at all, as they awarded the prize to Mitchell for Gone With the Wind. In another instance of the precarious nature of the Pulitzer Prize for Novel in public opinion, they could do no right. Despite the popularity of Mitchell’s novel in the public, John Hohenberg writes that “the critical buffeting of Gone With the Wind as a best-selling Pulitzer selection was strong and merciless.” Hohenberg goes on to state that, despite the critical response to the selection, the continued popularity and interest in the novel even decades later makes Gone With the Wind “an eminently defensible choice.” Currently reading: The Late George Apley by John P.

Marquand Archives Margaret Mitchell - Biography - IMDb Margaret Mitchell Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (2) | Trivia (15) | Personal Quotes (2) Overview (5) 4' 11" (1.5 m) Mini Bio (1) Margaret Mitchell was born on November 8, 1900 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA as Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell. She is known for her work on Gone with the Wind (1939), E o Vento Levou (1956) and Luan shi yao ji (1956). She was married to John R. Marsh and Berrien Kinnard "Red" Upshaw. She died on August 16, 1949 in Atlanta. Spouse (2) ( 2 September 1922 - 16 October 1924) (divorced) Trivia (15) Ms. Mitchell learned most of the Southern and War Between the States' history that she knew from her paternal grandfather, Russell Crawford Mitchell, who had been a Confederate soldier.

Margaret once joked that she had heard so much Civil War history from her grandfather that she was ten years old before she realized that the South had not won the War. Mitchell also learned some Southern history from her father, Eugene Mitchell, who was a real estate attorney in Atlanta and also an amateur historian. Mr. Mitchell was also a founder of the Atlanta Historical Society. Mitchell's writing career began as a journalist for the "Atlanta Journal" newspaper in 1922. She continued at the Atlanta Journal until a broken ankle forced her to resign in 1926. Ms. Mitchell began writing "Gone With the Wind" in 1926, after breaking her ankle in the same spot that she had broken it in a fall from a horse when she was a girl. Margaret Mitchell claimed that she had never intended to publish "Gone With the Wind". In 1935, a friend of hers told Harold Latham, a visiting editor from the MacMillan publishing company, about the book. After some persuasion, Ms. Mitchell took the manuscript to his hotel. Mr. Latham stated that the stack of papers was almost as tall as Margaret was.

Most of the pages had become mildewed and the book's chapters were out of order. After Margaret gave her manuscript to Mr. Latham she changed her mind about its possible publication and requested that he send the manuscript back to her. Mr. Lathams declined to do so. After reading the manuscript he realized that he had a very good book and published "Gone with the Wind" in 1936. It literally became an overnight success selling over a million copies in six months time and one million seven hundred thousand copies within a year of publication. It was in those days and is said to be still the second most printed book in the world, second only to the bible. Ms. Mitchell steadfastly refused to help in the production of the movie of "Gone with the Wind". She told the producer David O. Selznick that he had bought the novel. It was there to do with as he pleased in filming it. Mitchell did send her friend, Susan Myrick , to Mr. Selznick as a technical advisor for the film. After that, Mr. Selznick left Mitchell alone. In another effort to discourage questions about David O.

Selznick's film adaptation of her novel, "Gone With the Wind", she told newspaper reporters - with all the seriousness she could muster - that she thought Groucho Marx would have make a good Rhett Butler. Margaret Mitchell stated that she would never write a sequel to "Gone With the Wind". After her death, her husband John Marsh became the executor of her estate, and when Mr. Marsh passed away in 1952, Margaret's brother Stephens Mitchell became the executor. During his lifetime, Stevens firmly refused to grant publication rights to any sequel (in print or on film), and he also rejected the idea of any film remake of "GWTW". Only after death of Stephens was a sequel novel authorized by Ms. Mitchell's estate. The title of the sequel is "Scarlett", and it was later presented as a made-for-TV movie. Miss Mitchell attended Smith College in Northampton, Massachussetts, for one academic year, 1918 - 19. She dropped out of college when her mother became ill with the flu during the great influenza pandemic of 1918. Maybelle Mitchell, Margaret's mother, died of the flu in January 1919.

At that time Margaret returned home to Atlanta to take care of her father's home. She never returned to college at Smith or anywhere else. Smith College did award Ms. Mitchell, however, an honorary college degree after her novel, "Gone with the Wind", won the Pulitzer Prize for Best Literature in 1937. Mitchell was pictured on a one-cent American postage stamp in the "Great Americans" series, and hers was issued for sale at post offices on June 30, 1986. On August 11, 1949, Ms. Mitchell was crossing Peachtree Street in Atlanta to enter a movie theater with her husband John Marsh. She was hit by a speeding automobile that was driven by an off-duty taxi driver (driving his own car, not a taxicab) and was badly injured. She was taken to the Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, but she passed away five days later without ever regaining consciousness. In 1936, the movie producer David O. Selznick bought the film rights to Margaret Mitchell's novel for $50,000.

However, after Gone with the Wind (1939) had become a very best-selling film, Mr. Selznick decided that he had drastically underpaid Ms. Mitchell, and he sent her an additional $50,000. Ms. Mitchell approved of the interpretation of Scarlett O'Hara by the British actress Vivien Leigh , after Mitchell finally viewed the film version of Gone with the Wind (1939). Overall, Michell also liked this film interpretation of her novel, with just a few minor quibbles. She thought that he mansion house called "Tara" (at the O'Hara family's plantation) should have been quite less opulent. Mitchell also reportedly did not like what the introductory "crawl" said, the one which appears on the screen after the opening titles. It says "There was a land of cavaliers and cotton fields called the Old South ... ", which Ms. Mitchell thought was too lush in its wording. Ms. Michell was a good friend of the novelist Edwin Granberry . He was so impressed with her novel, "Gone With the Wind", that he rated it up with Leo Tolstoy's novel, "War and Peace".

This sparked a lifetime friendship between the two, and he convinced Mitchell to agree to accept a payment of $50,000 for the movie rights for her novel in the contract negotiations with the purchaser David O. Selznick . Ms. Mitchell's remains were buried beside those of her husband, John Marsh, in the historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia. Her own favorite choice for the part of Rhett Butler was Basil Rathbone . Personal Quotes (2) [on 'Gone with the Wind] I hope I never write another thing as long as I live. [on being asked what eventually became of the famous lovers in 'Gone with the Wind'] For all I know, Rhett may have found someone else who was less difficult. See also 10 Famous Novels That Didn’t Win a Pulitzer Prize | One-Minute Book Reviews 10 Famous Novels That Didn’t Win a Pulitzer Prize The Great Gatsby didn’t win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and neither did these modern classics By Janice Harayda Consider this if your favorite book doesn’t win one of the Pulitzer prizes that will be announced at 3 p.m.

today: The judges for the 1930 prize looked at Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms and William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury and gave the fiction award to … Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge. And those classics are hardly alone in having been snubbed. Some noteworthy losers and the novels that won the Pulitzer instead in the years listed: 1962 Loser: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller Winner: The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O’Connor 1957 Loser: Seize the Day by Saul Bellow Winner: The Fixer by Bernard Malamud 1952 Loser: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Winner: The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk 1941 Loser: For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway Winner: Nobody. No award given. 1937 Loser: Absalom, Absalom!

by William Faulkner Winner: Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 1930 Losers: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway and The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner Winner: Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge 1928 Loser: Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather Winner: The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder 1926 Winner: Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis 1921 Loser: Main Street by Sinclair Lewis Winner: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton This is a re-post in slightly different form of an article that appeared on this site in 2007. You can follow Jan (@janiceharayda) on Twitter by clicking on the “Follow” button at right. Pulitzer Prize –Many Famous Authors Have Won It Including Gone With The Wind Author, Margaret Mitchell | Gone With The Wind Book Gone With The Wind Book GATEWAY TO THE WIND Pulitzer Prize –Many Famous Authors Have Won It Including Gone With The Wind Author, Margaret Mitchell It’s that time of year—Mothers Day, Memorial Day, and Pulitzer Prize month.

May is when the coveted writing, journalism, music, and drama awards are given out–although the winners were announced in April. Among the other awards being given out, the book Tinkers by Paul Harding (Bellevue Literary Press) won this year’s “Best Fiction.” May 3, 2010 marks the 73rd Anniversary of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind winning the Pulitzer Prize in the same category. Mitchell’s book, published by Macmillan in 1936, topped the list of 1937 Pulitzer winners under the “Letters, Drama, and Music” category. It won “Best Novel” and You Can’t Take It With You by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman won for “Best Drama.” That same year, under the Journalism “Public Service” category the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Newspaper won for its exposure of wholesale fraudulent voter registration in St. Louis. It is fitting that the Post won, as the award is named for the original owner of the newspaper. No one could have been more proud to have won the award than Margaret Mitchell as she had been a newspaper woman herself.

Research Mitchell and you will see the word “diminutive” in a majority of the books and articles about her. The word was first used by author Finis Farr his 1965 book, Margaret Mitchell of Atlanta, the Author of Gone With The Wind (New York; William Morrow) and for some reason it is the word most used to describe her. She was short in stature, but definitely not “diminuitive” as a person. Mitchell was a giant in personality and writing ability. Her descriptions and storytelling captivated reading audiences, and it has been written that Gone With The Wind sold over 30 million books worldwide. “She was just the dearest lady,” said Ann Rutherford, who played Carreen O’Hara (Scarlett O’Hara’s sister) and got to meet her during the Atlanta premiere of the movie. The movie was an instant success because the book had been such a best-seller. In only the first six months Gone With The Wind sold over a million copies. Imagine that: a million copies, with no large chain bookstores, no Amazon.com or other online book sources, and no Oprah or other television shows to promote it.

“ In 1936 at soda fountains all over the country you would see people with their books, Gone With The Wind propped up in front of them,” said Rutherford from her home in Los Angeles. “They were all reading it.” Gone With The Wind was Mitchell’s first and only book published during her lifetime. She and her husband, John Marsh were ecstatic when the postman brought her the award. Mitchell was a lover of books; and a journalist, having worked at the Atlanta Journal Newspaper. Though the award was just 20 years old when she won it, it had already become very prestigious and she appreciated the significance of winning it. The Pulitzer Prize was named for Hungarian immigrant Joseph Pulitzer, who after emigrating to the United States, made his way to St. Louis, Missouri. He worked odd jobs, and used to go to the Mercantile Library where he would look at the books to improve his English. One day he was watching two men play chess and he was so interested he began critiquing them. Turns out they were the owners of the Westliche Post, which was the German newspaper in St. Louis. They were so impressed with him, he soon began writing for the newspaper and eventually bought it.

Pulitzer established a provision in his Will to start the award as a reason for writers to strive for excellence.The Novel category which Mitchell won, was re-named the Fiction category in 1947. She was in good company winning the award. Some of those who have won the Novel or Fiction Pulitzer are: Elizabeth Strout for Olive Kitteridge (Random House, 2009); Toni Morrison for Beloved (Alfred A.

Knopf, 1988); Larry McMurtry for Lonesome Dove (Simon & Schuster, 1986) Alice Walker for The Color Purple (Harcourt Brace, 1983); John Updike for Rabbit Is Rich (Knopf, 1982); Harper Lee for To Kill A Mockingbird (Lippincott, 1961); Ernest Hemingway for The Old Man and the Sea (Scribner, 1953); Herman Wouk for The Caine Mutiny (Doubleday, 1952); John Steinbeck for The Grapes of Wrath (Viking, 1940) Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings for The Yearling(Scribner, 1939); Pearl S. Buck for The Good Earth (John Day, 1932); Edith Wharton for The Age of Innocence (Appleton, 1921) It is because of the impressive list of those who have won the award that it is so prestigious among journalists and other writers.

Some may not realize that it is largely due to foresight of Joseph Pulitzer that college students can now major in Journalism. In 1892 he gave Columbia University the money to start the first ever “School of Journalism” but he had a reputation that was less than desirable to the president at the time, so he turned it down. After Pulitzer’s death, he left more money to the University and the Columbia School of Journalism was set up. It was also at his urging that the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism was set up. These are both still recognized as very prestigious Journalism schools. Pulitzer eventually bought the (Westliche) Post and the St. Louis Dispatch combining them to make the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. According to the Pulitzer website, “James Wyman Barrett, the last city editor of The New York World, records in his biography Joseph Pulitzer and His World how Pulitzer, in taking hold of the Post-Dispatch, ‘worked at his desk from early morning until midnight or later, interesting himself in every detail of the paper.'” This was the hey-day of the newspaper business. At the time, the Post-Dispatch (1878-current) was in competition with the St.

Louis Globe-Democrat (1852-1986) and with the St. Louis Star Times (1885-1951.) As a side note, the Post-Dispatch has continued and is the major daily print newspaper in St. Louis. In 2009, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat emerged again as an online newspaper and it once again challenges the Post in everyday sports and news coverage. ( ) After his days at the Post, he moved to New York City, New York and ran the New York World Newspaper. On October 29, 1911 Joseph Pulitzer died of heart disease aboard his yacht, the Liberty, in Charleston Harbor at 1:40 in the afternoon. Pulitzer had come to the United States with nothing, had struggled for work in his early days in St. Louis, but had emerged as a shining example of the “American Dream” by becoming a self-made man, so he had come full -circle with his death aboard a luxury yacht which he owned.

Pulitzer is remembered every May when the awards are handed out.The 2010 Pulitzer Prizes will be awarded at a luncheon at Columbia University on May 24, 2010. Scroll down for the 2010 list. (By Sally Tippett Rains, author of The Making Of A Masterpiece, The True Story of Margaret Mitchell’s Classic Novel, Gone With The Wind( ) If you like Gone With The Wind, follow us on Facebook: GWTWbook.com and Twitter: GWTWbook, May 3, 2010) 2010 Pulitzer Prize Winners (Courtesy Pulitzer.org) Letters, Drama, and Music

Question: For which book did Margaret Mitchell win the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction?
Answer: GONE WITH THE WIND